2021 Australia’s Migration Program Allocation Updates
There are four streams in the Migration Program:
The Skill stream
– designed to improve the productive capacity of the economy and fill skill shortages in the labour market, including those in regional Australia.
The Family stream
– predominantly made up of Partner category visas, enabling Australian citizens and permanent residents to reunite with family members from overseas.
The Special Eligibility stream
– covers visas for those in special circumstances that do not fit into the other streams. This can include permanent residents returning to the country after a period away.
The Child stream
– provides migration avenues for children of Australian citizens and permanent residents and is demand driven.
Calculating the Migration Program Outcome
The Skill and Family streams include ‘two-stage’ visas, which provide a permanent residence pathway for visa holders from a provisional or ‘first stage’ visa to a permanent or ‘second stage’ visa. While such pathways involve the grant of two visas, to avoid double counting, the visa holder is counted to the Migration Program at grant of the provisional or ‘first stage’ visa only.
In addition to ‘second stage’ visas, some other visas granted may not count toward the Migration Program outcome in the following circumstances:
- if a person has been previously granted a visa which counted toward the Migration Program, that person will not be counted again.
- when a visa is granted and subsequently cancelled in the same program year.
- when a Partner visa applicant does not progress to the second stage (permanent) visa, a place is returned to the program.
- if a Business Innovation and Investment visa (granted in an earlier year) is cancelled under certain powers, a place is returned to the program in the year of cancellation.
Executive Summary of Australian permanent Migration Program
The total permanent Migration Program outcome for 2020–21 was 160,052 places.
The breakdown for each of the streams within the Migration Program was as follows:
- 79,620 places were delivered in the Skill stream
- 77,372 places were delivered in the Family stream; and
- 54 places were delivered in the Special Eligibility stream.
- The outcome of Child stream for the year was 3,006 places.
Australian permanent Migration Program Skill Stream
The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs has authority to redistribute places across the Skill stream of the Migration Program in order to maximise outcomes.
Skill stream visas are processed according to government policy priorities which are outlined in Ministerial Directions.
*More details regarding these priorities can be found at: Skilled visa processing priorities (homeaffairs.gov.au)
In 2020-21 the Skill Stream focused on visa categories which will help Australia’s economy rebound from COVID-19, with priority given to visa cohorts that drive economic growth, job creation and investment into Australia. The three priority categories were:
- Business Innovation and Investment Program;
- Global Talent Program; and
- Employer Sponsored Program.
Visa processing focused on onshore applicants and applicants in critical sectors and occupations.
71.2 per cent of applicants finalised in the Skill Stream in 2020-21 were onshore.
The Skill stream outcome was 79,620 places, which accounted for 50.7 per cent of the total 2020-21 Migration Program outcome (excluding Child stream).
2021 Australian permanent Migration Program Outcome
- The Employer Sponsored category had an outcome of 23,503 places.
* Employer Sponsored visas comprised 29.5 per cent of the Skill stream outcome in 2020–21;
- The Skilled Independent category had an outcome of 7,213 places
- The Regional category had an outcome of 13,585 places
* Of this, 10,675 places were delivered in Skilled Work Regional and 2,910 places in Skilled Employer Sponsored
Regional;
- The State/Territory Nominated category had an outcome of 14,268 places
- The Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) had an outcome of 11,198 places
- The Global Talent category had an outcome of 9,584 places
- The Distinguished Talent category had an outcome of 269 places
Australian Migration Program planning levels
- Skill (79,600 places) – this stream is designed to improve the productive capacity of the economy and fill skill shortages in the labour market, including those in regional Australia.
- Family (77,300 places) – this stream is predominantly made up of Partner visas, enabling Australians to reunite with family members from overseas and provide them with pathways to citizenship.
- Special Eligibility (100 places) – this stream covers visas for those in special circumstances, including permanent residents returning to Australia after a period overseas.
- Child (3,000 places) – this stream is managed outside the Migration Program as it is demand driven and not subject to a ceiling.
| Stream and Category | Places in 2021-22 |
|---|---|
| Skill stream | |
| Employer Sponsored | 22,000 |
| Skilled Independent | 6,500 |
| Regional | 11,200 |
| State/Territory Nominated | 11,200 |
| Business Innovation & Investment Program | 13,500 |
| Global Talent | 15,000 |
| Distinguished Talent | 200 |
| Skill Total | 79,600 |
| Family Stream | |
| Partner | 72,300 |
| Parent | 4,500 |
| Other Family | 500 |
| Family Total | 77,300 |
| Special Eligibility | 100 |
| Child (estimate; not subject to a ceiling) | 3,000 |
| Total | 160,000 |
Program size and composition
The size and composition of the Migration Program is set each year alongside the Australian Government’s Budget process. To inform the development of the 2021-22 Migration Program settings, the Department of Home Affairs consulted widely with State and Territory governments, academia, industry and community organisations between November 2020 and February 2021.
Public submissions, economic and labour force forecasts, international research, net overseas migration and economic and fiscal modelling are all taken into account when planning the program.
State and Territory nominated visa categories – 2021-22 nomination allocations
Under the 2021-22 Migration Program settings, nomination allocations are made available to States and Territories in the following visa categories:
- Skilled – Nominated (subclass 190)
- Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (subclass 491)
- Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP)
| State | Skilled Nominated (Subclass 190) Visa | Skilled Work Regional (Subclass 491) visa | Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACT | 600 | 1,400 | 30 |
| NSW | 4,000 | 3,640 | 2,200 |
| VIC | 3,500 | 500 | 1,750 |
| QLD | 1,000 | 1,250 | 1,400 |
| NT | 500 | 500 | 75 |
| WA | 1,100 | 340 | 360 |
| SA | 2,600 | 2,600 | 1,000 |
| TAS | 1,100 | 2,200 | 45 |
| Total | 14,400 | 12,430 | 6,860 |
Are you looking for help with getting Australian Visas?
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